HSUMD January 2005

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE UPPER MOJAVE DESERT

Vol. 20 No. 1 January 2005
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JANUARY MEETING FILM INDUSTRY IN THE LOCAL AREA

The story of the film industry in the local area will be the subject when the Historical Society holds it first meeting of the new year on Tuesday, January 18 at the Maturango Museum at 7:30 PM. Everybody is welcome to attend the Society's meetings.

The society's guest speaker will be Ray Arthur. Before becoming Film Commissioner in 1992, Ray was general manager of KZIQ as a culmination of a long career in radio. He will tell us of the beginnings of local filming in 1961 through to the latest releases. Along the way, he'll tell us about the first show shot at the Trona Pinnacles (not the Planet of the Apes!), and how the Ridgecrest Regional Film Commission was founded to support and promote the use of the area for movie locations, and how that has led to the growth of the industry locally.

For more information on this or future meetings, contact HSUMD President Bruce Wertenberger at 375-2369 or leave a message at 375-8456.

Here is the lineup of future speakers:

15 February - Liz Babcock - From Nowhere to Somewhere IWV 1905 2005
15 March - Tom Chapman - Hidden Camps of Inyo County
19 April - Not yet confirmed
17 May - Robert A. Pearce - Owens Valley Controversy, The Untold Story
Andrew Sound

TOOLS EXHIBIT PROGRESS

Thanks to some wonderful help from George Silberberg and Carroll Evans, plus several loans of interesting old tools, the new "Old Tools" exhibit in the vestibule of the Maturango Museum is proceeding nicely. We expect to have it installed by late January.

George, whose idea it was to have the exhibit, discovered recently that his daughter-in-law Colleen Silberberg has a large and beautiful collection of antique tools. George took Liz Babcock to visit Colleen on Jan. 3, and Liz came home with probably about 100 tools of various sizes, shapes, and uses. Many of the tools had been in Colleen's family for three generations.

Then came the perplexing question of how to display the tools. That was where Carroll Evans came to the rescue. When Liz asked him to advise her on whether pegboard sections could be temporarily installed in the HSUMD cases (the best way to display the tools, Liz thought), Carroll immediately went to Home Depot and returned with the perfect pegboard, which he is now painting and adapting to the cases!

Also contributing to the exhibit are Eileen Dietz, who brought in a "what is it?" that maybe you will be able to identify; Jenny Miller, who has a beautiful antique hand drill to show; Tom Budlong, who contributed the use of a "Johnson bar" (watch for it in the exhibit to see what it is); and Glenda Blackshaw, who brought in three antique carpentry tools.

It's not too late for Liz to add a tool or two from any other HSUMD member who owns old and/or obscure tools. Liz is at the Maturango Museum (375-6900) every Sunday and Monday. Liz Babcock

HOME PAGE INFORMATION

In 2004 the home page of the Historical Society had 5665 "hits" for a daily average of 15.5 hits. Janet Westbrook is our web mistress. The URL is shown on the back page of this newsletter. If you haven't accessed it recently, take a look; it's full of information.

IT'S MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL TIME

It's time to renew your membership in the Historical Society, if you haven't already recently done so. Our membership year is the calendar year. The membership fee is $15 per year per family, $25 per year for a business membership. There is a renewal form on page 3. Please fill it out and send in your check today. The Historical Society is an IRS 501(c)(3) organization, therefore any contributions to it above the membership fee is tax deductible to the extent permitted by law and would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for responding promptly; it keeps our treasurer happy!

CONTRIBUTORS/BENEFACTORS

Recent 2004 contributors are William Atkinson, Curtis and Gretchen Bryan and Bruce Wertenberger. Benefactors are John and Roberta Ward and Fred Weals.

BUDGET INFORMATION

Our treasurer, Fred Weals, has made a preliminary report. It shows that our expenses exceeded our income by $1,402.86 this past year. This is partly offset by our incresed inventory of publications. We did receive donations of $850, which helped a great deal to offset the cost of rent and utilities.

MYSTERY BUILDING IDENTIFIED

An e-mail from HSUMD member Phyllis Dame identifies the building in the November 2004 issue as that of the Church of God in Inyokern. She remembers attending a service there. It was active in the 1967, 1968 time frame. The building was unoccupied for a long time, until it was bought in recent years by a private party and made into a residence. She thought the congregation moved to Ridgecrest, but the linkage could not be made in the write-ups in the HSUMD book, Churches of Indian Wells Valley and Vicinity. (An ad in the HSUMD copy of the 1967 phone book lists the Church of God as being located at the corner of Sunset and Broadway with the Reverend Charles Kingsland as pastor

BUSINESS MEMBERS

Please patronize our local business members: The Swap Sheet, Ridgecrest Moving & Storage, Heritage Inn, Farris' Diner & Italian Gardens, Indian Wells Valley Insurance Co., The News Review, BevLen Haus Bed and Breakfast and Jack & Dana Lyons.

CHRISTMAS PARTY REVISITED

A fine time was had by HSUMD members at their Christmas party on December 14 at the Maturango Museum. Coordinator of the event was Jerry Mumford, a selection of Christmas music was sung by the incomparable Farris Family Singers, a game was provided by Jenny Miller (who would have thought 12 everyday items could be placed in an empty walnut shell!), mulled cider was brought by Lou and Gerry Pracchia, coffee by Bill and Marcia Nevins and the caloric (but absolutely delicious) pièces d'résistance were all the great desserts brought by our members!

HISTORICAL ARTICLE

(Following is an article prepared by our great local historian member, John Di Pol, drawn from his library of local history books. Ed.)

CALIFORNIA STATE BOUNDARIES - When, Where, How.
(Part One)

How many readers, when looking at a state map of California, have noticed a certain particularity about the state's boundaries, i. e.: The preponderance of straight lines. Pick up a map and follow along.

The exterior boundaries were defined by the Constitutional Convention of 1849, ratified by the U.S. Congress when California was admitted into statehood in 1850 and the definitions remain essentially unchanged to the present day. They are as follows (in abbreviated form): The northern boundary follows the 42nd degree north latitude from the Pacific Coast to the intersection with the 120th degree longitude west of Greenwich. From this point the eastern boundary follows the 120th longitude due south to the intersection with the 39th north latitude (in the middle of Lake Tahoe, no less!!). The boundary then runs in a southeasterly direction to a point defined by the intersection of the 35th north latitude and the mid-channel of the Colorado River, then down the Colorado to the Mexican border. The southern boundary runs from this point west in a straight line to the Pacific Ocean coast just above Tijuana, Mexico.
The Constitution also defines the western boundary in the Pacific Ocean, but that is a quagmire we best not get into. The 42nd north latitude line was originally established by treaty in 1818 to separate the Spanish possessions in the south from U.S. territory to the north. The southern line is an international border, established by treaty in 1848 following the Mexican War. The eastern boundary: Ahhh, that's where all the "fun" was and the focus of this article. During the Convention, there was great debate among various factions as to where the eastern boundary should be: Along the crest of the Sierras? Further east deep into Utah Territory? The Mormon state of Deseret was pushing west into Carson Valley. The final decision was as described above and stands to this day. (Intriguing questions: If the Sierra crest was selected, the Owens Valley would ultimately be in the state of Nevada and what would have been the impact on Los Angeles if Mulholland not been able to tap the Owens River water??. Or, would the Indian Wells Valley instead of Laughlin be full of high-rise casinos??).

While the definition of the boundaries using lines of latitude and longitude was very convenient for the 1849 Convention, identification of such lines on the ground is technically very difficult for the surveyor and could only be done by astronomical observations. The latitude of the observer was obtained by determining the altitude of certain stars, including the sun, and consulting published ephemerides. The problem of determining longitude was (and is) much more difficult, consisting of astronomical observations plus highly accurate measurement of the time differential between the prime meridian at Greenwich, England and the location of the observer at the very same moment.

Plus, the lines on a map are blind to the topography which lies underneath: mountain ranges, canyons, rivers, alluvial fans, deserts, forests, all remotely located and difficult to access, especially 150 years ago. Such were the problems of the surveyors at the time. And, it is no wonder that the results of their various surveys were at odds with each other; at times severely so.

Following statehood, questions arose regarding location of the eastern boundary. The most critical area was Carson Valley because this was productive agricultural land and more heavily settled than the rest of the line. A preliminary survey by the Surveyor General of California in 1852 determined that the valley was well within the Territory of Utah, later the Territory and State of Nevada. In 1855, the Surveyor General commissioned George Goddard, a civil engineer, to make a more thorough survey of the Lake Tahoe (then called Lake Bigler) area and Carson Valley. Goddard made astronomical observations at both the upper and lower portions of the lake and determined that the angle point in the eastern boundary was located within the lake and inaccessible for direct field marking. This problem was ultimately solved by using signal fires on the north and south shores, plus the use of offset surveys around the lake.

Sporadic survey efforts for the eastern boundary continued into the early 1860s and beyond when more intensive efforts were initiated as a result of the establishment of the Territory of Nevada in 1861, with statehood coming in 1864. Stay tuned for Part Two of this narrative in next month's newsletter.

Ref: LONGITUDE, Dava Sobel, 1995, CHAINING THE LAND, Francois D. Uzes, 1977, THE ALBUM, Chalfant Press, 1992 John Di Pol